I am a character-driven comic book fan. Not in the sense that I'm a fan of character-driven comics (though I suppose that could be true as well) but in the sense that it's the characters that drive my interest in a book.
This is probably why, historically (and when you're my age you do get to use the word "historically" when describing your life) I've always preferred group books. From Fantastic Four to Avengers to Legion of Super-Heroes to X-Men, the majority of the comics I picked up every month were group titles. Most of the longer runs in my collection are group books. There are a few reasons for that, but one in particular comes to mind right now
In a group book, if a favorite character is eliminated or changed radically, it's likely that there will be other characters who interest me still in the book. Hawkeye leaves the group? Well, damn...but still, Scarlet Witch! In a solo title, say back when Tony Stark was replaced as Iron Man by Rhodey, that could have been a deal-breaker--although that's a poor example in my own case because I really liked Rhodey in the armor--but still, point made, right?
On the other hand, back when Fantastic Four was my favorite book (the pre-teen years, this was), if they had killed off the Human Torch, I might have stopped buying it because at that time none of the other characters were all that interesting to me. (They were all "old." :P)
So, is a reboot of a character likely to turn me off enough to make me lose interest? Well...maybe. Let me think about that while I type.
Now, I do feel a little silly when I say that I understand why someone would be angry that a favorite storyline no longer "counted." Isn't a good story a good story regardless? What about Elseworlds or What Ifs or imaginary stories?
Well, sure, a good story is a good story. But if you're reading a What If? story, you file it away a little differently in your mind, or at least I do. You don't mentally add it to the stack of information on that character.
And reading serialized literature isn't like reading a stand-alone piece. On some level, anything that has to do with a particular character, unless you know it's explicitly out of "canon," is really only a chapter in the life of that character. In a narrative sense it becomes part of that character's life experience. It informs their opinions of and future interactions with the other characters in that storyline.
I suppose it's going to be a case-by-case thing, whether a particular aspect of a reboot irks me to the point where I throw up my hands and say "oh, s/he's not even the same person!" So, if suddenly Tim Drake never met Connor Kent? That's an enormous change in both characters, because their friendship was a significant one that affected not only what they'd done but how they had developed as characters. I'm not a big Tim fan, but if I were, that's something that would probably bother me, because a Tim who never knew Connor is not the same person.
Heck, I'm not even particularly a fan of either character, and that seems pretty clear to me.
So am I going to jump ship on titles or characters I like due to a reboot? Probably not. But maybe. We'll see.
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